One area of particular suitability for the apparatus to be described herein relates to hospital practice, although it is emphasized that this apparatus can find use in many other environments as well. No limitation to hospital practice is implied.
With the greatly increased use of monitoring equipment in hospitals, there is a considerable need for an apparatus capable of suspending pieces of equipment in such a way that the equipment can be manipulated to different positions in use. For example, it may be required to have a piece of apparatus for testing blood pressure readily available for use with a patient, but easily maneuvered into a position where it is not in the way of other treatment when not in use. There is also a requirement for suspending intravenous feeding equipment that varies depending upon circumstances, thus requiring the equipment to be movable with respect to the patient.
Adjustable suspension apparatus for these purposes is available, but it tends to be cumbersome and relatively inconvenient to use. Currently available equipment consists of a series of horizontally disposed arms pivotally connected at their ends by vertically extending pins, so that they can be disposed at various angles towards each other to permit the projection of the end of the free arm to a desired location. The arrangement is flimsy and the mechanical design is difficult from a strength point of view at the vertically extending pins. The use of more than one arm in a particular application is particularly cumbersome.